Harm-a-gettin' was the only rhyme I could think of :)
Posts by Terry
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3Ballad of Armageddon (to be sung sort of like Ballad of the Alamo
by Terry inthe ballad of armageddon _________________a sinner trudged to salem and he went down on his knee asking heaven for a token or a sign of what would be but a wind came out of nowhere and a thunderbolt flashed high as a sudden hush of stillness brought a rumble and a sigh.
the valley of meggido beckons hordes to reckon blood higher than a bridle comes that roiling, gruesome flood in the valley of the shadow where the dead will surely rise on the day (maybe tomorrow) you will understand if wise.
yet the sinner slept in salem and his dreams of monstrous fears woke him screaming much affrighted as he mumbled washed in tears
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Cheaters vs Spoilsports : who is treated WORSE?
by Terry incheaters vs spoilsports.
who is treated worse?.
all forms of play have rules, which are absolutely binding.
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Terry
CHEATERS vs SPOILSPORTSWho is treated worse?All forms of play have rules, which are absolutely binding.If the rules are transgressed, the play world collapses; the game is over, and everybody goes back to ordinary life.This is not the same as cheating.The person who cheats pretends to be following the rules.Nobody likes cheating or spoiling the game, but it is interesting to note that of the two the cheater is usually treated less harshly than the spoilsport.The SPOILSPORT is generally ostracized from the group, and punished by being excluded because he or she has destroyed the illusion."Illusion" means literally "in-play".This difference in the harshness of treatment carries over into ordinary life too.There is more tolerance in society for the cheat and the hypocrite than for the apostate, the heretic, or the prophet.This truly becomes interesting to observe in society.Inside Christianity, for example, a sinner can be forgiven but an apostate or atheist cannot and will not be forgiven.Cheaters can claim to be "only human" and express weakness and temptation and say, "I'm sorry."
The cheater acknowledges the rules are fair, that God is real, and the error was their own.But an Apostate points out the fallacies, breaks the illusions, and denies the power of those in control of the group. GAME OVER.
In JUDAISM, cheating required sacrifices but spoilsports were stoned to death. Jesus was executed at the instigation of Judaism's official administrators using Roman power.
Why?
He sought to destroy the power and authority of the administration. Big spoilsport! Emperor Constantine codified "differences" of belief into THE APOStLES CREED. That empowered the Catholic Church to wield EXCOMMUNICATION as a weapon over spoilsports.
The "Confessional booth" was for cheaters only.
Martin Luther was a spoilsport.
40 thousand Christian sects are the result of spoiling activity. Inside "Christendom" the Mormons, Quakers, Mennonites, Amish, Jehovah's Witnesses, etc. are seen as spoilsports -while, at the same time - inside the Spoiler religions there are spoilsports being excommunicated and disfellowshipped! You can cheat and confess but you CANNOT SPOIL the GAME!EverySociety develops rules and tolerates cheaters.Society seeks to bind and destroy spoilsports such asradicals, protestors, rioters, iconoclasts, insurgents, and terrorists who threaten to smash the ruling structure and introduce chaos. The French Revolution, the Russian Revolution, etc. was a war between SpoilSports and Cheaters!In politics, elected officials who enrich themselves and play favorites learn to go along to get along by cheating and bending rules - but the outsider who will not play the game cannot be tolerated and will be surrounded, reviled, and expunged as a traitor. Trump? Yes, a real Spoilsport!Recently a new strategy has evolved for spoilsports.Flipping the script: the spoilsports mislabel the cheaters to "cancel them" removing their rebuttal altogether.George Orwell called this DOUBLETHINK: persuading others to accept conflicting beliefs as truth, often at odds with their own memory or sense of reality.We don't call it DOUBLETHINK today. Instead, we call it WOKE-ism.Spoilsports decry cheaters before the cheaters can decry the spoilsports by preaching virtuous propaganda and shutting out everybody who disagrees.
What is the lesson to be learned?Learn to apologize for your Truth and swear never to utter it aloud - or you'll not end well.(The above is based on Huizinga's classic work on Play,Homo Ludens.)Play nice, kiddies. -
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...AN ELEPHANT in my pajamas (an alternative way of seeing the world)
by Terry inan elephant in my pajamas.
by the age of 2, i began noticing comedy was a verbal violation of logic.. in fact, groucho marx taught me an important way of applying my thinking in terms of logic and humor.
by the age of 2, i had been taught to develop a bias toward “what was obviously logical” and to omit all else.. that was a social bias.
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Terry
The GB "helpers" (not unlike Santa's helpers) will inch their way toward the center stage as
one by one the culprits sneak off to exotic locales leaving the rank and file hanging on by their
fingernails to the ever more unfeasible Fire Sale Going Out of Business Armageddon bait and switch
routine. -
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...AN ELEPHANT in my pajamas (an alternative way of seeing the world)
by Terry inan elephant in my pajamas.
by the age of 2, i began noticing comedy was a verbal violation of logic.. in fact, groucho marx taught me an important way of applying my thinking in terms of logic and humor.
by the age of 2, i had been taught to develop a bias toward “what was obviously logical” and to omit all else.. that was a social bias.
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Terry
The (Governing Body) of the last twenty years is
BELOW AVERAGE in personality and appear to be both intellectually and (most importantly) imaginatively UNGIFTED.
The analogies they make as well as demonstrations they perform to illustrate new teaching are KINDERGARTEN level.
This Governing Body clown car is filled with such phony pretenses I can't imagine why the rank and file
JW's treat them like rock stars.
These men claim to be BRIDES (of Christ). That is a real stomach churn.
Is it possible for intelligent householders NOT to laugh at JW dot org?
I sincerely wonder. -
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...AN ELEPHANT in my pajamas (an alternative way of seeing the world)
by Terry inan elephant in my pajamas.
by the age of 2, i began noticing comedy was a verbal violation of logic.. in fact, groucho marx taught me an important way of applying my thinking in terms of logic and humor.
by the age of 2, i had been taught to develop a bias toward “what was obviously logical” and to omit all else.. that was a social bias.
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Terry
What a puffed-up self-image the GB have of themselves and present to the world!
They are like Ghostbusters' Pillsbury Doughboy figures floating in midair like oversized blimps
of self-importance.
But don't dare say a single word of less than praise and total agreement unless you want to
commit the JW equivalent of "the sin against the holy spirit."
The easiest way to get yourself disfellowshipped is to misalign against them.
FRAGILE EGOS require constant affirmation and asking them to accept humor is like asking them to sit on a cactus. They are pricks who can't stand real pricks. -
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...AN ELEPHANT in my pajamas (an alternative way of seeing the world)
by Terry inan elephant in my pajamas.
by the age of 2, i began noticing comedy was a verbal violation of logic.. in fact, groucho marx taught me an important way of applying my thinking in terms of logic and humor.
by the age of 2, i had been taught to develop a bias toward “what was obviously logical” and to omit all else.. that was a social bias.
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Terry
Funny you should say that ...:)
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...AN ELEPHANT in my pajamas (an alternative way of seeing the world)
by Terry inan elephant in my pajamas.
by the age of 2, i began noticing comedy was a verbal violation of logic.. in fact, groucho marx taught me an important way of applying my thinking in terms of logic and humor.
by the age of 2, i had been taught to develop a bias toward “what was obviously logical” and to omit all else.. that was a social bias.
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Terry
AN ELEPHANT IN MY PAJAMASBy the age of 2, I began noticing comedy was a verbal violation of LOGIC.
In fact, Groucho Marx taught me an important way of applying my thinking in terms of LOGIC and HUMOR. It was a “subversion of context.”
By the age of 2, I had been taught to develop a bias toward “what was obviously logical” and to omit ALL ELSE.
That was a social bias.
Look at what Groucho Marx said following his first statement...
"Last night I SHOT AN ELEPHANT IN MY PAJAMAS (pause)
What he was doing in my pajamas I'll never know."
Groucho subverted the rule of social bias.
Aha - a new paradigm for Terry! A whole new world opened up for me.
A private world with more possibilities lay ahead.We have an emotional reaction to a violation of non-contradiction implied because Elephants do not wear pajamas.
Our natural bias is to understand Groucho to mean "Last night, I was wearing pajamas when I shot an elephant."
When Groucho contradicts that bias of understanding the LOGICAL truth about elephants we react emotionally to this violation by LAUGHTER.
By the time I was an adult I held a secret power. A well-trained student is c-a-r-e-f-u-l-l-y taught BIAS toward logical thinking.
My secret power gave me a certain edge.
I understood that humor came from pulling the rug out from under expectations.
GEOMETRY MATH and SCIENCE, of course, require the use of AXIOMS.
An axiom is a statement that is taken to be true, to serve as a premise or starting point for further reasoning and arguments.
Without a bias toward axioms, Western civilization could not have developed in advance of the rest of the world.
HUMOR violates axioms! Humor infuriates Authority. Humor is a great leveler.
Humor was my self-defense against bullies and a special way of determining
Intelligence in other people. If a person laughed at my wit - they were automatically a playmate!
Tyrants, Authoritarians, and Sociopaths have NO sense of humor and will never tolerate criticism or being made fun of.
Carried much further, humor challenges the bias inherent in everything else as well.
If carefully applied - a sense of humor is a wonderful TEST of people, institutions, and faulty premises!
SATIRE, for instance.
SATIRE challenges every form of bias using, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues.
Satire tears away the curtain of bias exposing the "truer" truth inside.
A self-important person automatically thinks they understand what they know but
Jokes require a “different” understanding.
Here is an example of very dark humor which upsets a basic understanding of the phrase:
" I want to die peacefully in my sleep, like my grandfather…""
A natural and logical understanding of this set-up puts us in the frame of mind that is about to be shattered with the punchline.
" I want to die peacefully in my sleep, like my grandfather…
Not screaming in terror like the passengers in his car."
YIPES!
This should make us mindful of the reason why a Judge in a courtroom setting requires a witness not only to:
"Tell the Truth..."
(But even more is required…)
The Whole Truth...
And Nothing but the truth."
We suddenly understand that grandfather was driving the car when he fell asleep and everybody died in a crash.
Like I said at the top …
When I was 2 years old I discovered absolutely EVERYTHING can be seen as a matter of bias, interpretation, and "possible" misunderstanding unless we have ALL the information and proper contexts.
Take Christianity, for instance.
The World Council of Churches tells us there are over 40 thousand “Christian denominations”!
Each one “thinks” they own the Truth exclusively! How is that possible?
It is possible when the members keep to themselves in a closed echo chamber
disallowing criticism, debate, or challenges to authority.
However -Jesus was constantly debating with the leaders of Judaism, critical of their teachings, and challenging their thinking - and even his apostles and disciples bickered about all sorts of matters. Paul had to challenge Peter at one point on a matter of doctrine even though Peter was given “the keys of the Kingdom.”
Is it any wonder there are 40 thousand differences of opinion calling themselves “Christian?”
And then - there are Puns!
PUNS require that you deliberately apply alternate (and absurd) meaning to ordinary words.
"I have a split personality", said Tom, being frank.
"Will glass coffins be successful?" Remains to be seen.
"I lost my job at the bank on my very first day. A woman asked me to check her balance, so I pushed her over"
We can sum that up this way:
It's hard to explain puns to kleptomaniacs because they always take things ...literally
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Finally, is it any surprise that when I was 12 years old I became involved with a religious organization that provided alternate explanations and interpretations to practically everything in mainstream religion and the Bible?
I think not!
Once you develop a secret power: (being open to alternative bias and seeing contradictory contexts) the world you live in is a MUCH MORE INTERESTING place.
We tend to think of bias and discrimination as BAD but both must be applied with experience, wisdom, and comprehensive awareness of other possible interpretations.
After all, all things consist of BEING what it is - as opposed to what it IS NOT.
And then…?
Some things can be viewed as automatically self-contradictory.
Happily married and Military Intelligence, for instance.
Let's end this with a laugh using famous people who violate the logic of sense-making bias...by making an alternative sense.
I am a deeply superficial person. - Andy Warhol
Of course, I can keep secrets. It’s the people I tell them to that can’t keep them. - Anthony Haden-Guest
I distinctly remember forgetting that. - Clara Barton
You'd be surprised how much it costs to look this cheap. - Dolly Parton
The budget was unlimited, but I exceeded it. - Donald Trump
I have a terrible memory. I never forget a thing. - Edith Konecky
I hate people but I love gatherings. - Edna St. Vincent Millay
Hegel was right when he said that we learn from history and that man can never learn anything from history. - George Bernard Shaw
Always be sincere, even when you don’t mean it. - Irene Peter
Live within your income, even if you have to borrow to do so. - Josh Billings
We must believe in free will. We have no choice. - Isaac B. Singer
I can resist everything but temptation. - Oscar Wilde
It usually takes more than three weeks to prepare a good impromptu speech. - Mark Twain
I can believe anything, provided that it is quite incredible. -
Oscar Wilde
The best cure for insomnia is to get a lot of sleep. - W.C. Fields
I always avoid prophesying beforehand because it is much better to prophesy after the event has already taken place. -
Winston Churchill
I never said most of the things I said. - Yogi Berra
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Memory and memorization
by Terry in3.1415926535807932384626433i used to be able to go to a hundred from memory.
my son and daughter can do so.age 75 has cheated me a bit in this regard.what sort of things have you memorized (whether useful or useless)?i can recite the entire rime of the ancient mariner to this day, btw.there are many so-called tricks for remembering things that can be easily learned and i've read all or most of those books.the amusing thing about such memory is this: nobody cares!
"why do you need to memorize when you can just use your iphone?sigh...i memorized the periodic table of elements one day at work.
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Terry
Memorization of poems, math formulae, stories, vocabulary words, and all the above have certainly
proved useful to me throughout my life.
However - memorizing my public talks only limited me and it was pointed out to me by a friend of mine
that I was more effective when spontaneous. So, I stopped and began relying on key topics and transitions and it was like a whole new world of personal fulfillment. Spontaneity comes across so much better.
I tried this approach when I was cast in a play and it worked very well for me.
All the above said to make at least one point: Public schools seem to have abandoned required memory work and I think this cheats students for years to come. -
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Memory and memorization
by Terry in3.1415926535807932384626433i used to be able to go to a hundred from memory.
my son and daughter can do so.age 75 has cheated me a bit in this regard.what sort of things have you memorized (whether useful or useless)?i can recite the entire rime of the ancient mariner to this day, btw.there are many so-called tricks for remembering things that can be easily learned and i've read all or most of those books.the amusing thing about such memory is this: nobody cares!
"why do you need to memorize when you can just use your iphone?sigh...i memorized the periodic table of elements one day at work.
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Terry
The LETTERS as NUMBERS and vice verse comes from Dr. Bruno Furst published as YOU CAN REMEMBER.
All subsequent books and courses more or less (cough cough) "borrow" his techniques.
The following podcast is very informative and historically thrilling.
https://www.magneticmemorymethod.com/bruno-furst/ -
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Memory and memorization
by Terry in3.1415926535807932384626433i used to be able to go to a hundred from memory.
my son and daughter can do so.age 75 has cheated me a bit in this regard.what sort of things have you memorized (whether useful or useless)?i can recite the entire rime of the ancient mariner to this day, btw.there are many so-called tricks for remembering things that can be easily learned and i've read all or most of those books.the amusing thing about such memory is this: nobody cares!
"why do you need to memorize when you can just use your iphone?sigh...i memorized the periodic table of elements one day at work.
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Terry
3.1415926535807932384626433
I used to be able to go to a hundred from memory. My son and daughter can do so.
Age 75 has cheated me a bit in this regard.
What sort of things have you memorized (whether useful or useless)?
I can recite the entire Rime of the Ancient Mariner to this day, btw.
There are many so-called tricks for remembering things that can be easily learned and I've
read all or most of those books.
The amusing thing about such memory is this: nobody cares!
"Why do you need to memorize when you can just use your iPhone?
Sigh...
I memorized the Periodic Table of Elements one day at work. I've never used that. :)
I memorized 825 Bible verses when I was a JW.
The more you do these sorts of things the stronger the impression sets into the cement.
If you do NOT use it - losses begin to occur. Hard drive space is conserved, I suppose.
I can recite Gilbert and Sullivan: I Am the very model of a Modern English Gentleman from
the Pirates of Penzance but people flee the room when I begin.
I can recite the alphabet backward in less than ten seconds.
Mind you - this has nothing to do with intelligence. Simply a capacity and skill.
I can do the Professor Harold Hill patter: TROUBLE from the Music Man and enjoy doing so
just as self-entertainment.
I love tongue twisters: THE SILENT SEA CEASETH AND THUS SUFFICETH US.
RUBBER BABY BUGGY BUMPER
BLACK BUG'S BLOOD
My favorite of all is the ANNOUNCER'S TEST which Jerry Lewis would do every year
on the March of Dimes telethon for M.S.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06D1F5-4Atc
One hen
Two ducks
Three squawking geese
Four limerick oysters
Five corpulent porpoises
Six pairs of Don Alversos tweezers
Seven thousand Macedonians in full battle array
Eight brass monkeys from the ancient sacred crypts of Egypt
Nine apathetic, sympathetic, diabetic, old men on roller skates with a marked propensity towards procrastination and sloth
Ten lyrical, spherical diabolical denizens of the deep who hall stall around the corner of the quo of the quay of the quivery, all at the same time.
I added a few of my own:
Eleven silent, silver, Soviet submarines, stealthily surveying some sunken city near San Salvador.
